Web Site UpdatesRecently I realized the Fire Museum
Network's site has been looking a bit old. We
haven't changed it much since it was created back
in 1996. The "News" page was a year out of date,
and the purpose of the page has been replaced in
most part by the "Discussion Board"... The
"Join-us" (Membership) page had the old mailing
address.... The Resources pages likewise haven't
been added to or updated in several years.... There
isn't any great place to post information about the
fire museums seminar or special projects.... The
navigational structure (how you the visitor get
from page-to-page) was becoming very cumbersome...
And lastly the whole behind-the-scenes
organizational structure (a system of
files/folders) was practically nonexistent! In
short it was time for an overhaul!

Organized around four topics -- About
the Fire Museum Network, the Fire
Museum Directory, Resources,
and a section for Miscellaneous
News and Notes -- this new layout should be
much easier to navigate and understand. I have
added some more information about us as an
organization (for example, our mission statement is
now posted on the opening home page). Also added
are the the names for each the members of the FMN
Executive Committee, the beginnings of an
organizational history, and links to past seminar
schedules. Eventually I envision all the seminar
speakers to have some kind of "presentation notes"
which we can add to this area for those FMN members
that missed the presentation to view/download? I've
also beefed up the "resources" area, (adding a lot
of links to museum resources), and I'm planning to
rework the "How-to" pages next.

So.... What does everyone think? Do you like the
new style? The new colors? For the most part, I
have kept pictures and graphics to a minimum to
make the pages load quickly -- Is this necessary,
or are most of you using high-speed Internet
connections nowadays? Is there anything you would
like to see added? Anything I've forgotten? Can you
find any bad links, missing pages, and typos?